Abbie Hodgson

Abbie Hodgson is a visiting assistant professor of communications and media management at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas, where she previously taught classes in public speaking, rhetoric, persuasion, political communication, and leadership for over a decade. Hodgson’s academic research and writing focused extensively on the transformative role of women in politics, which align with her professional experience as a political strategist and nonprofit leader.

As a communications practitioner, Hodgson has worked on more than 100 political campaigns, from the top of the ticket, including Hillary Clinton for president, down to local town boards. Notable, she also served as speechwriter for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who went on to serve as President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. Most recently she served as the inaugural director of The Ascend Fund, a collaborative fund dedicated to accelerating the pace of change towards gender parity in U.S. politics. She strategically raised and invested over $12 million in organizations championing women’s political leadership and initiated a pivotal pilot program to increase female representation in state legislatures.